novelraw Chapter 230: The Dungeon Games [14]
Chapter 230: The Dungeon Games [14]
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"Prepare to die by the hand of the Sect Master, Yang Mieng! It is an honor among honors, fool!"
Louis' eyes widened as he looked at his friends. Hundreds of silver swords had appeared out of nowhere and were attacking them all at once.
"Wait…! Where did he…?!"
All this time, he had relied on game knowledge to survive, but this time that knowledge had failed him. It had missed a crucial detail this world possessed that the game lacked.
In the game, every sect had elders serving as mini-bosses. Here, each sect also had its Sect Master present, ready to fight until the bitter end.
And every Sect Master was a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator.
The difference in power was staggering. Louis coughed up blood, cursing himself for lowering his guard.
The Rune of Slaughter's effect had already ended. He should have slaughtered them all instead of offering surrender.
It was his fault. His mistake.
"The Formation Node you sought is my treasure as well. The Golden Emperor granted it to me and me alone. Through it, I can wield the power of the Divine Heaven Sword Arrau. This entire sect and every disciple here form part of that formation."
As the Sect Master walked toward Louis, impaling his body with dozens of swords and drawing blood everywhere, he explained what was happening. Not because he believed Louis could understand, but simply to brag out loud.
While dying, Louis noticed the disciples screaming as their energies were drained one by one until they began to die. The array was using their power to fuel this overwhelming strength.
"So he uses his own disciples as fuel… What a wretched monster."
Louis stood up once more. The swords piercing his body began to tremble, crack, and shatter, falling apart as dark purple flames burned them into ashes.
"Hm? You still stand? Do you truly believe you have a chance?"
The Sect Master smirked. His long white beard waved in the wind as he rose into the skies. Thunder rumbled through the white clouds above, and white thunderbolts descended into his hand.
Each thunderbolt transformed into a bright white sword, all pointed at Louis and his friends, who were barely alive, many of them impaled by swords.
Agustina was proving to be a lifesaver, raising shields and walls of spiritual metal from the materials she had collected to protect everyone.
Zorba's undead were fighting hard but falling by the dozens.
"Master Louis, what is this monster?!" Zorba shouted.
"Isn't he a little too strong?!" Mirai cried.
"T-These swords are too many!" Timothy yelled.
"Help! Selene…! Selene was stabbed!" Melisa screamed.
"Ouch… Aghh…" Selene groaned, vomiting blood as the sword pierced her stomach.
"Heal her!" Anastasia urged. "Louis! Are you okay?!" She ran to him since she was closest.
"Useless. Your struggles are nothing but amusing at best."
The Sect Master smiled and waved his hand downward. The swords rained from the sky.
"Heaven Thunder Sword Rain."
The blades fell like a thundering storm.
Louis looked up at them with a gentle smile even as he bled out. The power of his Spiral activated at full force.
His Incarnations emerged one by one and fused with his body.
"I planned to save my energy for the boss, but there is no point in holding back if we are all going to die, right?"
Anastasia's eyes widened as she watched Louis transform in an instant. Fantasium, Psychic Energy, Mana, Sword Energy, and Sword Qi all merged into one.
BOOOM!
A massive explosion of black and purple flames, white holy light, ashen frost, and invisible sword energy erupted around him.
In a single second, all the disciples on the ground before him died, their souls devoured by him.
"Soul Sacrifice."
The souls surged into his body, causing his form to grow gigantic and monstrous.
He kicked off the ground and flew into the skies.
"Hm?"
The Sect Master narrowed his eyes as a gigantic figure emerged amid countless explosions.
"Fool."
He shook his head and fired dozens more white thunder swords. Explosions bombarded Louis endlessly.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Yet Louis kept moving forward even as his body grew brittle and cracked apart.
From that broken form, another emerged, quickly enveloped in semi-transparent, flexible, ethereal flesh-crystal that took the shape of a giant white dragon.
The white dragon was strange, covered in sword-like scales and spikes. Its horns, claws, tail, and wings were all sharp, metallic, and sword-like.
"A Sword Mythical Beast?!"
As the Sect Master gasped in disbelief, the dragon struck him with a single punch.
That punch carried an overwhelming amount of Sword Intent and Sword Energy mixed with Psychic Power, Mana, and Fantasium.
This was the madness born from one man's delusion, further evolved through the knowledge stolen from those eternally forced to relive their deaths in an endless looping nightmare.
"Dragon King's Divine Blade Art."
"Second Form – Heaven-Splitting Sword Intent."
He had integrated the Heaven-Splitting Sword Intent Method into his own sword art, born from his personal madness and fueled by his Fantasy Heart.
The result was devastating.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"What is this?! Who are you?!" the Sect Master screamed in agony.
The moment he saw the dragon regenerating out of nowhere, he swiftly changed position and loaded his qi swords with all his remaining energy. Only then did he realize his batteries—his disciples—had already been slain.
Clicking his tongue, he conjured massive White Thunder Sword Arrays around himself. Hundreds of spinning swords made of white thunder protected him from Louis's attacks.
Yet each strike from the dragon was like a hundred swords stabbing into the array at once, spreading countless slashes until the barriers began collapsing one after another.
Louis condensed all his Sword Intent into his entire Fake Dragon form, born from the fusion of every technique, ability, and incarnation he possessed.
He had even merged himself with his soul treasures, leaving only Gungnir outside the wicked fusion. He relied on Death Sense to survive the constant impalement and burning of his body.
The transformation was so painful that without this ability, he would have exploded and died on the spot.
Still, each of his attacks was utterly devastating.
Slash after slash, explosion after explosion, the Sword Ki Master lost his composure, his face twisting in rage.
"Come, Sword Treasures!"
Cornered, he summoned dozens of sword treasures from his vault artifact and infused them with his sword qi.
"Twelve Holy Swords Array Formation – Heavenly Blade Dragon's Divine Sword Fang!"
He chose to fight dragon against dragon, conjuring a gigantic serpentine beast from his swords and unified sword qi. It hissed as it clashed against Louis.
Louis countered by fusing Sword Energy, Sword Qi, and Sword Intent into Gungnir while activating the spirits within the spear and all his Soul Treasures. The Gardener's Memento activated, merging with his Nirvana Soul Flame Furnace Method, Breath of Ruin, reversed Ashen Frost into Holy Light, Pain Weaponization, Blood Feast, and Handy's Painless Curse. All of it created a constant cycle of energy production through the absorption, amplification, and weaponization of pain.
He channeled everything into a single thrust.
BOOOMMM!!!
A massive explosion of pure sword energy erupted. The dragon the Sect Master had summoned shattered and vanished. Unable to escape in time, the man was impaled by the spear. Purple and red flames engulfed his body, burning with terrible pain.
"KUUAAAAGGHHHHH!"
He screamed in horror as he burned, yet he remained conscious. This was the power of a Nascent Soul cultivator, whose body was nothing more than something he could discard at any time.
And so he did.
FLUOSH!
His soul left the burning body, appearing above Louis. He transformed his very soul into hundreds of glowing swords and impaled Louis once more.
"I won't die! I WON'T DIE! I AM THE KI SWORD MASTER! YOU FILTHY, LOWLY BEAST!"
"THOUSAND SWORD SOUL!"
"GAAAAHA?!"
Louis screamed in agony. Death Sense's protection had worn off seconds earlier, leaving him completely vulnerable. His soul and body were stabbed by hundreds of swords formed from the Nascent Soul cultivator's own essence.
"Heheh…!" Even as he agonized, Louis laughed.
"W-WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING AT?!"
Louis closed his eyes. From the depths of his soul and Fantasy Heart, demonic red eyes opened, a crystallized flower bloomed, and red flames flickered.
"Fool. You should never attack a Spiralwalker in the soul!"
Louis laughed loudly as sharp vines erupted from his heart, wrapping around every sword impaling him. They sealed their power, weakened them, and ground their soul essence to shreds one by one.
The Ki Sword Sect Master realized too late the grave mistake he had made. He had never fought a Spiralwalker before, and they were most dangerous when their souls were targeted.
He tried to flee, but Nirvana flames burned every one of his soul swords, which were composed of his divided soul itself.
"GYAAAAHHHHHH!"
As he burned in agony, Louis pressed forward, channeling the power of his Grievance. Dozens of black-red roots and branches pierced the elder's entire soul and began absorbing it like nutrient-rich liquid.
"A-AAAAHHH! AAAGGHH!"
In desperation, the Sect Master escaped as a small golden orb floating in the air. Most of his soul remained stored inside, which was why he was so difficult to kill.
Louis absorbed what he could, but he was too wounded. He collapsed to the ground, vomiting blood, his body slowly returning to normal as Handy rushed to heal him after tending to Selene.
"Louis!" Mirai cried, running to him.
"Kill him! He's getting away! He has the Formation Node! It's his Soul Treasure!" Louis shouted.
"…!!!"
Everyone quickly chased the flying golden orb, which suddenly took the form of a golden sword and tried to flee toward the horizon.
"Where are you going?!"
Agustina acted decisively, summoning a giant shield that stopped the Sect Master cold. His weakened sword body could not pierce it and bounced backward.
Timothy raised his metallic red, burning vines, caught the sword, and pummeled it into the ground with his shovel.
Mirai and Anastasia followed right behind, swords in hand, rushing at him.
"G-Go away! GO AWAY!"
The Sect Master screamed in powerless horror as the two girls cut him into four pieces. His golden core and the soul inside quickly exploded.
"Guaaaaagghhh!"
BOOOMMM!!!
Louis stood up shakily and pointed his hand at the soul fragments, absorbing them just in time before they disappeared. He devoured them through the Gardener's Memento Familiar ability, which allowed him to consume souls directly and far more effectively than Soul Sacrifice.
"Gulp…"
He felt his aura surge as a large quantity of sword qi manifested from his body, temporarily turning him into a long, sharp white-and-silver sword that surprised everyone around him. He smirked lightly for a moment before his eyes rolled back and he collapsed.
"Louis!"
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